5 former players Dubas let go in Toronto prove he was a problem

The Toronto Maple Leafs suffered a disappointing 2nd round loss to the Florida Panthers in last year's playoffs, which opened the door for a new era to begin in Toronto; the Brad Treliving era.

When Kyle Dubas was let go by the Leafs last May, the move came as a bit of a shocker, even with all of the playoff disappointments having piled up at that time. It was the common thought process that one of the Core 4 would be dealt before Dubas was let go, but in the end, Dubas never got the chance to deal one of them. Thank goodness he wasn't given that opportunity, because his asset management has been objectively horrible as an NHL GM.

The Hockey Illumunati's Frank Crupi took the time to break down some of Dubas' worst blunders throughout his time in Toronto, coming to the conclusion that Kyle Dubas may have actually been the real problem in Toronto. After seeing this list, it's difficult to argue his point.

Zach Hyman - 50 goals for the Oilers
Trevor Moore - 26 goals for the Kings
Jared McCann - 27 goals for the Kraken
Nazem Kadri - 23 goals for the Flames
Mason Marchment - 19 goals for the Stars


In all, these 5 former Leafs have tallied 145 goals this season and contributed 281 points collectively. What sort of production do the Leafs have to show this season for it? Absolutely none. As Crupi pointed out in the video below, Moore was dealt to LA in the Clifford/Campbell deal, Marchment was moved to Florida in the Denis Malgin deal, McCann was left exposed in the Seattle Expansion Draft so that the Leafs could protect Justin Holl, Kadri was dealt to Colorado for Alexander Kerfoot and Tyson Barrie, and of course, Hyman was allowed to walk in free agency back in 2021.


Thus far during Brad Treliving's tenure in Toronto, he has signed the likes of Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi to bolster the top 6 in Toronto and those deals look to be paying dividends now as we approach the most important time of the year. He has also managed to bring in a trio of useful players at the deadline in Ilya Lyubushkin, Joel Edmundson and Connor Dewar, making the team better while also retaining his 2024 1st round pick. He also managed to keep all of Matthew Knies, Nicholas Robertson, Fraser Minten and Easton Cowan while making these upgrades.

Are the Leafs in better, more capable hands with Treliving? The jury is still out, but the early returns are looking pretty good. Meanwhile in Pittsburgh, Kyle Dubas has crashed and burned in his first season with the Penguins, so there's that as well.